FORT WORTH – The challenge of empowering the leaders of tomorrow got a big assist from the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday when the organization donated laptop computers and many other essentials to 31 college-bound graduates of the Young Women’s Leadership Academy.

Accompanied by the music of “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,” Mavericks’ CEO Cynt Marshall addressed the graduates and served as a walking, talking example of what it means when somebody says, it takes a village.

From 2016-18, Jalen Brunson led Villanova to two NCAA titles during a three-year span. While that period of time was an obvious special occasion, nothing was more special for the 6-3 Dallas Mavericks guard than what transpired this past weekend.

That’s when Brunson returned to Villanova and walked across the stage and received his college degree in communications during the school’s graduating exercises.

“It meant a lot just because my family, we really pride ourselves on getting an education,” Brunson said. “Just seeing my mom and dad having their degrees, being at such a great school like Villanova, I couldn’t pass up […]

If Jalen Brunson proved anything in his first season, it’s that he can fill in wherever you need him.

This past Mavericks season was segmented, to put it lightly. There was the opening four-game stretch without Harrison Barnes, and then a strong 13-4 stretch, then Dirk’s return, Dennis Smith Jr.’s absence, J.J. Barea’s Achilles injury, and two enormously consequential trades in the span of a week. This all happened before the All-Star break.

Through it all, Brunson’s minutes load, level of involvement, and even his position changed. Just look at how his minutes changed as the season unfolded. (Click to enlarge.)

One of the first reminders of Dirk Nowitzki’s legacy is about to become reality as Dallas city council members prepare to rename a portion of Olive Street that runs in front of American Airlines Center, turning it into Nowitzki Way.

A street name change request has been proposed and will be submitted to the City Plan Commission on June 6. Assuming it is approved there – and it’s widely anticipated that the proposal will sail through – the city council would have a hearing to make it official, perhaps as soon as Sept. 25.

DALLAS – The NBA announced today that Mavericks guard/forward Luka Dončić was unanimously selected to the 2018-19 NBA All-Rookie First Team after receiving first-place votes on all 100 ballots from a global panel of sportswriters and broadcasters. He becomes the sixth player in franchise history to earn All-Rookie First Team honors and the first since Jason Kidd in 1994-95.

Dončić (6-7, 218) averaged a team-high 21.2 points, 7.8 rebounds, a team-best 6.0 assists, 1.1 steals and 32.2 minutes per game in 72 games (all starts) for Dallas this past season. He joined Oscar Robertson as the only rookies in NBA history […]